


My Hero

by Between_A_Dream



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Allergies, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 20:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13689237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Between_A_Dream/pseuds/Between_A_Dream
Summary: Waverly tries to do something nice for Nicole to show how much she appreciates her, but things take an unexpected turn when allergies get involved.





	My Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is mostly fluff. There’s some angst later on in the story (Maybe it’s angst? I think it’s more drama than anything, but you can decide for yourself), but it’s got a happy ending. This idea actually sparked from my own allergies, and yes I'm well aware this is a fucking weird allergy, but I promise you all it's absolutely real. It doesn't really affect me in any way that’s detrimental to my health, I have the same reaction that Nicole does, and I thought this would be a cute idea that could offer some insight to a few of Waverly’s insecurities. As much as I love WayHaught and it’s clear that they love each other, there’s a lot about Nicole that Waverly doesn’t know. Unless it’s all been discussed already off screen, neither we nor Waverly know much about Nicole’s childhood, how she realized she was gay, or what any of her hobbies or interests are outside of work, and I really hope Season 3 goes a bit more into explaining more about her life before Purgatory. Anyways, this is just my way of giving some random backstory that’s not in any way canon but made a nice story idea. Hope you enjoy!

Waverly's smile was wide enough to stretch across her entire face as she practically skipped up to her girlfriend's door, a box tucked firmly under her arm. She didn't bother knocking- Not two weeks after Alice was born Nicole had given her a key to her house, but the door was rarely locked anyways.

"Nicole? Baby?" she called, her voice echoing through the room. She felt something touch her and looked down to see a familiar orange tabby curling around her ankles. "Hey CJ," she cooed, kneeling down to run her fingers through Calamity Jane's ginger fur. "Where's your mama?" she asked more to the void of empty space around her than to the cat itself, her eyes scanning the area in the dark with little success in locating the preferred, human ginger.

When she still received no response and no indication of Nicole's presence or location, she made her way into the kitchen, flipping on the light and watching as dim, ivory illumination spilled out of the aged light on the ceiling. A low buzzing sound accompanied the light and it flickered repeatedly as if it was struggling to even stay on. The officer had been saying for awhile now that she was going to get it replaced, but Waverly was well aware that her schedule was demanding and that any free time she had was devoted to spending time together or catching up on sleep.

In fact, now that Waverly took a moment to observe the kitchen, she noticed how scattered the room truly was. There were papers and files spread out across the counter tops and the small kitchen table, and the coffee maker was half filled with coffee that couldn’t have been fresher than a week old. The sight was enough to cause a disappointed grimace to form on the brunette’s lips. Nicole spent most of her time working for the sheriffs department, and any free time she did have she dedicated to helping with the supernatural occurrences within Purgatory. Nedley depended on her more than anyone else, and she took her job seriously, but sometimes it took a serious toll. Hence the reason Waverly had decided to visit in the first place.

She set the box in her arms on the counter and quietly made her way up familiar wooden stairs, a small orange tabby following closely behind at her ankles. The sound of gentle snoring caught her attention and she turned the corner to see Nicole fully asleep on her bed, her lips halfway parted and her hair splayed about beneath her head in a tangled nest of red locks.

She was on her stomach, with her legs hanging over part of the mattress, and her uniform was still half on. Her pants and shoes had been carelessly discarded off to the side of the room and her uniform hat was dangling off the tips of her fingers like it had fallen there while she was asleep. The uniform jacket was half unzipped, exposing a black spaghetti strap camisole underneath.

The younger Earp couldn’t suppress the smile that formed on her lips and she knelt down quietly beside her girlfriend, taking a moment to admire her beauty even in sleep. After placing a kiss to the officer’s forehead and tiptoeing back downstairs, Waverly again was faced with a messy kitchen and a scattered living room. Deciding that she had awhile before Nicole woke up, she figured she could at least help out by cleaning the place up a little. She enjoyed cleaning anyway, and it would add to her purpose for even being at the house in the first place.

The first priority was switching out Calamity Jane’s food and water, then placing the box she had brought in an open space in the fridge. Waverly looked around the kitchen and her attention was immediately redrawn to the flickering light above. She knew if Nicole had a replacement bulb she would’ve installed it by now, so she dragged a chair over beneath the light and carefully removed the plastic covering from the light.

The inside was lined with a thick layer of dust and dirt, and Waverly’s natural reaction to the sight was a gag. She set the light cover on the stove and shuddered, swallowing hard and shaking her head. She took a moment to collect herself and exhaled sharply. After all, this was for Nicole, so it was worth it.

* * *

It was the sound of music that woke Nicole from her sleep. Well- That, and the heavy weight that suddenly landed on her chest and startled her, to the point where if she hadn’t been able to identify an orange tabby cat on her comforter she would’ve reached for her gun. She took a moment to catch her breath, then shot the cat a dirty look, and it was only then that the music caught her ear.

It was faint, but definitely coming from downstairs, and though Nicole was confident that there was only person who would be in her house without her knowing, she still proceeded with caution down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she did so. Like she had predicted, she quickly caught sight of an all too familiar brunette dancing around in her kitchen. Her kitchen- She suddenly realized- That was _clean_. She then noticed the living room as well and realized that indeed, both rooms were now spotless. She could see both from her position on the stairs and marveled at the transformation that had occurred in her house while she had been asleep.

There were no more scattered clumps of papers lying splayed about. Rather, they were all carefully stacked into organized, neatly displayed piles on the kitchen table, and when Nicole looked close enough she could see each pile was labeled into categories, though she was too far away to read what they were. But regardless, all her reports for Nedley and papers for work, all her collective research on Bulshar and the cult, and any miscellaneous but important documents were now finally in one place where she could easily find what she needed at any time.

The living room now smelled of a mixture between lavender and sandalwood by virtue of two recently-lit candles centered on the coffee table- A big upgrade from musty carpeting and the earthen-amber oder that for some reason she could not remove from her couch. Whether or not the candles were enough to remove those scents was another thing, but it was enough to at the very least mask them, which was way better than nothing.

The floors had been swept, the windows cleaned, and even that damned light in the kitchen had been replaced, now providing a constant bright shine as opposed to flickering on and off at random. Along with the candle in the living room, the scent of freshly made coffee wafted in from the kitchen.

A twinge of guilt struck Nicole in the chest that Waverly had gone to the trouble. She was well aware that her girlfriend was happy to do it, but if she had a say in it she would prefer that the smaller woman never have to lift a finger a day in her life.

Waverly was still not cognizant of the fact that she was being watched, or at least she hadn’t made it known if she was. Though her sense of surroundings was usually acute and precise, she currently seemed to be blissfully unaware of any company aside from her own.

Nicole almost didn’t want to interrupt the moment she had stumbled upon, finding herself absolutely mesmerized by the graceful movements of such a simple task. The brunette woman’s back was to the living room and the stairs, soft instrumental music bubbling her in a world entirely her own. She hummed mindlessly to herself and her motions kept in time with the song, her hands never missing a beat as she wiped the countertops with a cleaning wipe.

It took a decent sum of effort to snap Nicole out of her trans and bring her focus back to reality. At least a full minute passed before she actively managed to convince herself that there were better, more alluring ways to entertain herself aside from fervently staring at her girlfriend.

Approaching slowly so as not to startle her, but still wanting the entrance to be a surprise, Nicole made her way into the kitchen on her toes, thankful that she’d decided to wear socks to bed. Navigating the room without accidentally stepping on a loose board and alerting the younger Earp to her presence would have proved a challenge for someone else, but the officer was quite familiar with the aged kitchen and knew well by now where to step to stay silent. Without hesitation, she slipped in effortlessly behind the younger woman and bowed her head down, dragging her lips lightly over Waverly’s neck and collar bone, making just barely enough contact to create a slight friction.

She immediately tensed in reaction, but her muscles relaxed and she recollected her composure as she recognized the touch. Strong arms snaked their way around her torso and some noise of approval rumbled in the back of her throat as she leaned back against her girlfriend. As she felt the kissing against her neck cease, she turned and ran her hands along the sides Nicole’s neck that eventually found their way into fiery locks of hair. She ran her fingers through the auburn mane and pulled the taller woman’s lips down to meet her own, an invitation that was welcomed and reciprocated immediately.

“Morning sleeping head,” Waverly mumbled into the kiss, only pulling back far enough to look up into a pair of familiar, sleep-riddled hazel eyes that stared back at her lovingly. “Did I wake you? I was trying to be quiet and let you sleep while I was down here.”

“Calamity Jane deciding that jumping on me seemed like a fun experiment had more to do with it,” Nicole chuckled softly, and Waverly’s lips curled up into a pleased beam that was matched quickly by the ginger woman in front of her. “But speaking of you being here...” she began in a mock scold, cocking an eyebrow at her girlfriend who was now suddenly sporting a knowing, guilty grin.

“Okay okay, but in my defense, I didn’t come here with the intent to clean, but when I showed up you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you because you’ve barely gotten any time to rest in the past week. And I didn’t want to just leave so I needed something to do, and I knew this would help you out,” Waverly explained with a shy laugh, her cheeks reddening. With an amused sigh and a playful roll of her eyes Nicole shook her head, but it was followed by a laugh and a short peck against the shorter woman’s lips.

“So if you didn’t come here to clean, why _are_ you here?” she asked after the kiss had ended. “Not that I mind,” she added quickly, if more for herself than anything.

After Waverly had felt confident enough to come forward about how horrible Champ really had been to her, how he cheated on her repeatedly and threatened to break up with her if she refused to have sex with him whenever he wanted, Nicole always felt a need to reassure her girlfriend that she was nothing like him, that their relationship was nothing like anything she had experienced with Champ. And that included making sure she knew that she was always allowed to say if something made her uncomfortable or felt wrong, that she was never by any means or in any circumstance required to have sex when she didn’t want to, and that she was welcome to come over when she pleased. Waverly, for her part, seemed to greatly appreciate the gesture.

“Well I wanted to surprise you a little. I know it’s not much, but I wanted to do something for you because you’ve been working so hard lately. Everything with Bulshar has been hard on us all lately, but especially on you because you also have a job to do as well and you put in so much effort in both. And I wanted to try and show you how much I appreciate you for everything you do for us. I know Purgatory is pretty crazy, and a lot of focus is on the supernatural stuff in this place, but you were so calm about finding out, so ready to join the fight for us, and you still are every day. Even in the middle of all this crazy, you still find a way to be a hero. To be _my_ hero,” and with that, Waverly pulled the white box out of the fridge from earlier, and opened it to reveal a dozen perfectly baked, neatly decorated vanilla cupcakes nestled inside. And in bright blue frosting letters written neatly across the tops were the words “My hero”.

Nicole stared at the cupcakes for a moment, then flicked her gaze between them and the brunette holding them a few times. Then with no prior indication, she started laughing and felt tears spring to the corners of her eyes. She took the box and set it on the counter beside her before stepping closer to Waverly and pulling her by the waist into a deep kiss, unable to contain her smile the entire time.

“You, Waverly Earp, are the most incredible person in the world that I have ever had the pleasure of loving. I will fight for you and our family with everything I have until I can’t anymore,” her eyes glistened with promise and Nicole spoke without smiling to show that she was serious.

“And you’re my hero too. Even with your past, all the pain you’ve had to endure and the sacrifices you’ve had to make to pretend you’re someone you’re not, you went on to be such an incredible woman who is the sweetest, most thoughtful person to ever live. Even after you’ve been hurt and betrayed so much, after you were abandoned by people you care about and neglected by people who were supposed to be your family, you grew into someone who still knows how to love,” she laughed as she spoke with a disbelieving shake of her head, and Waverly felt her own eyes filling at her girlfriend’s words.

“So much of that is because of you. You showed me what real love is like,” she held her hands on either side of Nicole’s face, pressing their foreheads together and closing her eyes. She did not speak, nor did she move forward into a kiss, or wrap the pair in a tight embracing hug. Instead, she stood silently, lips mere centimeters away from the officer, allowing herself to melt away, to become utterly engulfed in Nicole.

Her breath- Ghosting out in thin, delicate waves of warm air against Waverly’s lips. Her touch- Hesitant and permissive, lightly traveling along organic and mindless paths. Her gaze- Reassuring and still able to be felt, even behind the barrier of eyelids. Her fragrance- A feint, sugary blend of vanilla cream and rose oils. Her pulse- A constantly vacillating switch between a calming thump and a racing pound.

All of it, every experience and emotion in that moment was so raw, so true, so absolutely _them_. There was no other way to describe it. It was just the perfect embodiment of the two of them together.

They stood motionless in silence for what seemed to be hours but in reality was nothing more than a few minutes, proven true by the sudden change in music that startled them apart. What was once a calming instrumental background was now a cacophony of noise and words, and both women needed a moment to catch their breath before they returned to normal. Nicole broke the silence between them with a laugh, and Waverly quickly shut off her music, only a few remaining echoes of the music hanging in the air as it faded.

Her cheeks turned an embarrassed shade of red and she ducked her head, only to have it tilted back up a second later by her girlfriend to meet with a reassuring gaze. Receiving the message without words, the brunette nodded and Nicole’s expression lightened a bit, now complete with cheerful eyes and a playful smile.

“Come on,” she started, taking one of Waverly’s hands in her own and squeezing gently. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had food in over a day, and these cupcakes aren’t gonna eat themselves.”

* * *

Half an hour and a thorough transformation of the living room into a mock-pillow fort later, Waverly was curled up comfortably into Nicole’s side, the couple entangled in a complex web together and buried under a mountain of at least four or five thick blankets. The candles on the coffee table had originally been moved out of the way to avoid any fire hazards, but it only became more important later when they realized that the coffee table was the perfect element to complete the structure they were currently inside.

All the cushions had been stripped from both the couch, the love seat, and the arm chair to create a comfortable floor inside, while the couch itself had been turned upside down to act as one of the support systems for the structure of the make-shift fort.

The three other objects holding the shape were the coffee table turned on two of its legs to add extra height, two stacked chairs from the kitchen table, and some clever maneuvering with some blankets and the railings of the stairs. For all of them in some way or another duck tape had been used as extra stability and insurance that there would be no collapsing of blankets on two unsuspecting women. The walls themselves were of course made of different layers of dozens of blankets, of which Nicole had found stored in the back of her bedroom closet.

When the blanket fort had fully been constructed and it satisfied any doubts that either of them had, the couple had clambered inside with Nicole’s laptop and a dim flashlight with a clearly aged battery that was taped up at the top of the fort to hang down as a mock-lightbulb. Despite a majority of the blankets being darker colors and no structural holes in the fort, with the light of the computer and the flashlight it was quite comfortable inside and there was just enough light to allow decent vision while not being overpowered or making it feel as if it was too bright.

They laid curled up together on their stomachs under even more blankets, a plate of cupcakes in front of them and the movie Rent playing on the laptop because when Nicole asked Waverly about it the younger woman had admitted she’d never seen it before. The officer had found this to be appalling and had insisted they watch it first, with the added promise that Waverly could choose all other movies the rest of the night if she wanted to.

Nicole had no doubt in her mind that the cupcakes would be good, because Waverly made them and that gave her a few different reasons right off the bat for her thinking. One, she was pretty sure that even if they were terrible she would lie about it anyways, and she wouldn’t even try to, it would just be a natural reaction in order to try and preserve her girlfriend’s feelings. But, Nicole had eaten the brunette’s cooking before, and was quite confident that if she could successfully cook an entire meal from scratch that cupcakes were a mere walk in the park.

Besides, Waverly was a perfectionist at heart. She liked order and structure, and was very particular about everything she did anyways. And judging by how important it seemed to her that she show Nicole how much she appreciated her, the officer was willing to bet that a lot of extra time and effort had been put into the cupcakes. The white frosting on top was a perfect spiral on every single one, and their placement in the box was purposeful and neat. Even the writing was flawless down to every last letter, and Nicole was so impressed and touched at the fact that her girlfriend put in so much effort for her that as she took a bite, she completely forgot to ask about the ingredients.

For a minute or so, nothing happened, and when it did begin, she wasn’t the one to see it. The lighting was not bright enough that it clearly highlighted any irritations, and it was Waverly who noticed the red spots appearing.

“Hey, Nicole? What’s happening to your arm?” she asked with a tilt of her head, gesturing to where a large patch of skin was now covered in reddened spots. The officer stared for a moment in confusion, then when it hit her she dropped the cupcake in her hand and jumped up quickly.

“Shit!” she hissed, running her hand over her arms that were now both full of red splotches that were starting to become more like bumps. She winced and clenched her fists to avoid scratching, knowing that would only make it itch worse and create more pain in the aftermath.

“What? What is it?” Waverly jumped up and looked between the marks and the auburn haired woman anxiously.

“Ah...” Nicole trailed off for a moment, biting her lip and taking in a deep breath. Her skin felt as if it were crawling and she held her hands over the reddened areas in an attempt to keep down the agitation. “Waves... What’s in these cupcakes?”

“Just... Basic ingredients... Sugar, flour, eggs-“ the younger woman began but she was cut off by a voice spoken through clenched teeth.

“The icing, what’s in the icing?”

Waverly was still extremely confused, but she began desperately trying to recall the ingredients she’d used for the cupcake icing. It had been an old homemade recipe, but there wasn’t anything in it that she could think of that stood out as unusual, and her voice stuttered as she tried to speak.

“Uh... It’s n-nothing special- Butter, sugar, milk, vanilla-“

“Vanilla?” Nicole’s eyes grew wide and she winced again, resorting to holding her arms in her hands. The skin was warm and uneven, and the bumps had now started growing more profound. Waverly nodded and stared at her in confused panic. “Baby, I’m allergic to vanilla when it’s uncooked.”

“ _Allergic_?” the smaller woman’s eyes grew wide and she stumbled over a slur of incomplete speech, and she felt her heart racing in her chest. Seeing the look of terror on her face, Nicole did her best to reassure her that everything would be fine.

“Yeah... It’s uh... It’s not that bad, I just get hives on my arms and face, but they last for awhile. I think... I think I have some Benadryl left, in the medicine cabinet. Can you go check for me?” Nicole did her best to ask, her arms burning as she struggled to speak clearly, and Waverly’s response was immediate. She returned not 30 seconds later with a bottle that was nearly empty, with just two pills left inside. The taller woman downed them both in one swallow and let out a deep breath, her hands shaking against her arms. She closed her eyes and began to breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, counting silently to herself as she did so.

Waverly, for her part, sat back silently, biting down hard on her quivering lip and trying to keep her tears at bay. When the swelling began to go down and the redness started to fade, relief washed over her, but it didn’t quell her heart from thudding heavily against her chest. When Nicole lifted her head again and opened her eyes, she ran her hand down one arm gently, seemingly appeased with the results of the medicine. It was only then that her eyes landed on the younger Earp, who was slowly loosing the battle against the stream of tears threatening to spill down over her cheeks at any moment.

“Waves? Baby, it’s okay! It’s all fine, it’s already looking better, see? It’s just an allergic reaction, nothing to worry about. I’m okay,” she promised, crawling over to sit beside Waverly, but when Nicole reached her she was met with eyes glistening with tears and a lip that was covered in teeth marks almost deep enough to break the skin. “Baby, it’s all gonna be okay, I promise. Nothing major happened, and it’s not your fault. You just didn’t know.”

“But I... I should have known Nicole!” The sudden outburst startled the officer and she stumbled back a slight bit, but only until she saw Waverly break down into tears and lower her head into her knees, and then in an instant she was cradling the crying woman against her chest. They sat quietly for awhile, the only sound to break the silence being the occasional sniffle and whimper or a whispered reassurance.

“I should have known,” the words were so quiet that if Nicole hadn’t been so close she might not have heard them. But she was that close and she did hear, so she looked down at the brunette in her arms in confusion.

“Waves, you _couldn’t_  have known. I never told you about the allergy, and I didn’t ask about the ingredients beforehand. I’m the one who did something wrong here, not you. And I’m going to be just fine- Within half an hour you won’t even be able to tell,” the ginger tried to explain.

“But what if you weren’t going to be fine?” Waverly snapped her head up and stared at Nicole, helplessly trying to keep her composure. “What if this would’ve been something more severe? What if vanilla made you start vomiting, or you started wheezing, or you went into shock and experienced circulatory collapse? Or what if it was even worse than that? What if it was life threatening? Where if you eat vanilla you asphyxiate, so you wouldn’t be able to speak and I wouldn’t know what’s wrong or what happened? I wouldn’t be able to get you what you needed and then you could die right here in front of me? What then Nicole?”

The rant was so extensive that it took Nicole a moment to collect herself well enough to answer. When she was able to piece together the basics of what had just been thrown at her, she sat up without a word and moved away from Waverly so that she was facing her. She held out her hand and waited until the woman across from her tentatively held out her own. The officer squeezed her hand gently and laced their fingers together, holding firm but not so tight that her grasp was inescapable.

“There’s so much I don’t know about you... So much that I never got to ask... What if I never get the chance to find out?” The crack in Waverly’s tone as she spoke made her sound more like a frightened child than a 22 year old woman. “I mean... Yeah, this was just a small problem with an easy fix, but maybe next time it won’t be. And then I won’t know what to do or how to help you. God... I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you Nicole.”

“You’re never going to lose me Waverly. Not ever,” Nicole’s voice was firm and she leaned in a bit closer, squeezing their hands together tightly.

“How can you be so sure?”

And it was that question that made Nicole realize that no- No, she wasn’t that sure. She couldn’t promise that nothing would ever happen to her, that she’d be around forever to protect her girlfriend and that nothing would ever keep them apart, because that very well could happen if something went wrong with Bulshar. Even if not from him, there were infinite many other dangers in Purgatory, and that was just including the supernatural elements, not even considering other naturally occurring incidents. There was no way Nicole could even promise the next two minutes would be safe for them together.

“I can’t. You’re right- I don’t know anything about what’s going to happen to us in the future. I don’t know how we’re going to beat Bulshar and I don’t know if that will even be the end of the curse for good. There’s still a world of danger out there, even outside the walls of Purgatory, and none of us can control our futures. Something could happen at any moment, and we wouldn’t have a clue.”

Waverly stared at Nicole after her answer, then lowered her head and closed her eyes.

“But...”

She looked up slowly, watching the taller woman closely as she continued to speak.

“What I _can_ promise is that, no matter what happens, no matter that life throws at us- Be it supernatural or not- No matter what our futures may be, I will be right here by your side for as long as I possibly can. For the rest of our lives I’m going to be here, fighting the good fight with you and everybody else, whether that’s for 80 years or another 8 days. I don’t control the future, but I _do_ control my choices in this moment,” Nicole squeezed Waverly’s hand tightly in her own, relieved when she felt the muscles in the younger Earp’s body loosen once more. “It’s you and me Waves, ride or die. I’m here, and as long as I still have a choice in the matter I’m going to be here.”

At her words, the brunette across from her leaned over and pulled the couple into a tight embrace, tucking her head underneath Nicole’s chin. She felt the fear in her chest start to melt away, and as familiar fingers started combing gently through her hair, it slowly became easier and easier to forget her worry. Waverly carefully watched the skin on the officer’s arms as the red faded away into its natural light color.

“I’m here too Nicole,” she promised, though it was unclear as to whether or not the words were to be spoken aloud. Regardless, a smile broke out on the ginger’s face and she nodded, leaning down and capturing Waverly’s lips against her own. “You know... You really are my hero.”

Nicole couldn’t conceal the giddy grin on her lips and she pulled the brunette closer against her chest.

”You’re mine too Waves. You’re mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, what did you guys think? Please let me know! Reviews are always welcome and appreciated so much!!


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